1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for improving the stability of living organisms through the reduction of carbon-14 in the organism.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The radioactive decay of carbon-14 that is contained in the DNA of living organisms is known to cause structural and chemical changes local to the site of the decay event. Isaac Asimov was one of the first to discuss this phenomenon [I. Asimov, Journal of Chemical Education, v32, pp 84-5, 1955]. Asimov revisited the subject in a subsequent book ["The Relativity of Wrong" Isaac Asimov, Doubleday, New York, 1988]. Asimov focused on the .beta.-decay of carbon-14 atoms in the DNA of a living organism and proposed that the effect of carbon-14 decay could be investigated by substantially increasing the amount of carbon-14 in a living organism and observing the impact on mutations. Subsequently, a considerable amount of research has been done on the effects of increased carbon-14 content on the health of a variety of living organisms. Increased mutations and cases of increased mortality in offspring have been observed. Asimov and others have addressed the impact of carbon-14 increases but the reduction of carbon-14 in living organisms has not been addressed in spite of the recognized genetic damage produced by the radioactive decay of carbon-14. By definition, the organic molecules in a living organism are unstable due to the presence of carbon-14. Although the time of decay of a particular carbon-14 atom cannot be predicted, the large number of carbon atoms in a living organism ensures that the number of decay incidents will be in proportion to the total number of carbon-14 atoms in the organism. The instability of the carbon-14 found in a living organism imparts instability to that organism.
The .beta.-decay of carbon-14 releases 156,000 electron-volts of energy. Considering that the bond energy between a carbon atom and an atom of hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, or carbon is less than 4 electron volts; the energy released through .beta.-decay is sufficient to disrupt thousands of chemical bonds in the vicinity of the decay event. The disruption of chemical bonds can produce free radicals or other reactive species that are capable of producing changes in DNA or RNA of the organism. At the very least, a carbon atom is changed to a nitrogen atom.
In addition to the disruption of the genetic material produced in living organisms by the .beta.-decay of carbon-14, the potential impact of beta decay upon the thought processes in humans has been discussed by Keswani [G. H. Keswani, Speculations in Science and Technology, v9, n4 pp 243-4, 1985]. Keswani estimates that about 3,600 electrons per minute per kilogram are produced in the brain.
Virtually all living organisms contain carbon-14. The transmutation of nitrogen-14 to carbon-14 and the subsequent oxidation of this carbon to carbon dioxide in the upper atmosphere provides a source of carbon that readily available to the photosynthetic organisms. The transmutation process is essentially the addition of a neutron and the ejection of a proton by a nitrogen-14 atom through interaction with cosmic rays. Photosynthetic organisms are the basis of the food chain for the vast majority of living organisms on earth. If this atmospheric source of carbon-14 were not available, terrestrial carbon-14 would have all but disappeared long ago due to its relatively short half-life of 5,730 years.
Although the prior art has acknowledged that the radioactive decay of carbon-14 has an impact on living organisms and that increased carbon-14 content can produce an increase in mutations in living organisms, the prior art has not provided a method for the elimination or reduction of carbon-14 in a living organism.